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Running head: GENRE ANALYSIS ESSAY

Intermediate Composition
Genre Analysis Essay
Cody C. Spegal
University of Cincinnati Blue Ash

Genre Analysis Essay

Abstract
Learning how the experts in our field of study communicate is paramount to our ability to
become experts ourselves. Each field of study is referred to as a discourse community. Each
discourse community has its own unique writing, language, and set of genres with which
members communicate with one another. Discovering which genres are used in your discourse
community is the first step in bridging the gap between being a novice in your field, or being on
your way to becoming an expert. The first step in bridging that gap is to observe the experts in
my field of study and mimic how they use discourse. The purpose of this paper is to delve into
my discourse community and discover which genres are applicable, how each genre is used, and
how experts in my field of study communicate within these genres. The final piece of this paper
will be analysis of a peer-reviewed article pertinent to my field of study.
Keywords: Discourse community, Communicate, Genre, Language.

Genre Analysis Essay

Genre Analysis Essay


Research Methods: I began researching for this essay by interviewing my Ecology &
Evolution professor, Mark Otten (personal communication, January 18, 2017). He provided me
with list of multiple genres specific to the field of Biological Sciences. These included; Field
notes, research papers, syllabi, informative magazine articles & pamphlets, lab reports, and emails. In this essay, I will explore each of these genres thoroughly. I will explain how they are
written, who the audience is, and what kind of language is used. I then proceeded to find a peerreviewed article to analyze for the second part of this essay. The article I chose was Genetic
Modification of Lignin Biosynthesis for Improved Biofuel Production published in In Vitro
Cellular & Developmental Biology. Plant.
I began by researching a genre I was very familiar with, the syllabus. Research
Biologists that choose to teach at a university must write a syllabus for each class they are
assigned. The audience for the syllabus is college students, the age of which may vary greatly.
Syllabi use very simple, easy to understand language and they are designed to provide students
with all the information crucial to performing well in class. Syllabi begin with a description of
the course and expected learning outcomes, then they break down the course design and explain
how each part of the course is assessed and graded, and finally they include a list of resources
offered at the university and different class policies. This genre is only used at the beginning of
each semester, but it is important to write an excellent descriptive syllabus that will effectively
communicate to new students what the class is about, how they will be assessed, and how they
can be successful in your course.
The second genre that I investigated was research papers. Research papers can be written
in a multitude of settings. Research Biologists will typically do research in the field, or in a lab

Genre Analysis Essay

setting with the end goal of publishing their findings in a peer-reviewed journal. This genre is
important because it is written in a way that is meant to allow scientists to effectively
communicate new and innovative research with each other. Research Biologists use incredibly
complex language and terminology that requires extensive time and expertise to learn. Research
papers are not written for the general population, however, individuals within the general
population can learn the language required to at least obtain an understanding of new research. It
may take months or years for a Research Biologist to collect his data and organize it into an
effective report. That is also assuming their findings are of value to the scientific community. It
is very possible to spend years on research and conclude with inconclusive, or valueless results.
The third genre that I chose to explore was e-mail. E-mail is a method of communication
between people from all walks of life, including Research Biologists. Professional e-mail has a
certain format that begins with a salutation, a message body, and then a closing. Professional email messages use formal language and do not contain abbreviated text language. The reason
for writing an e-mail varies widely. You could be writing an e-mail to schedule an appointment,
ask about an ongoing project, or even to contact your students about a change in an assignment.
This genre is important because it is a method of instant communication between individuals. Email communication can be done anywhere that has internet access. This allows parties to
communicate outside of standard operating or work hours. It also allows people to communicate
in a short message without having to make a phone call or to travel to the other individuals
location.
The fourth genre that I researched was informative magazine articles. These articles are
not peer-reviewed, and the object of these articles is to explain complex information to the
general population in a way that they can easily understand it. These kinds of articles may be

Genre Analysis Essay

used to encourage conservation biology, explain the complexity of some aspects of biological
science and how it routinely impacts people, or to simply communicate new research to the
general population in a way that they can easily understand it. This genre is targeted specifically
towards the population of people who cannot understand complex scientific terminology or
reasoning. Research Biologists write these articles in the hopes that the non-scientific population
will be able to understand the value of the advances and discoveries that the biological sciences
has given us. This genre is used incredibly frequently as new information and research that
needs to be communicated to the general population is becoming available every day.
The fifth genre that I explored was field notes. Field notes are the scrawling of a
Research Biologist in the field who is incapable of properly documenting his findings in a more
formal manner. Research Biologists use field notes to document the data and information they
gather while in the field. This may take place in a deciduous forest, a desert, the arctic, or any
other natural environment on planet Earth. Field notes are comparable to a rough draft for a
news publication. These notes may not be formal, but they must be well documented and must
be provided with any research built from them. The audience for these notes are primarily the
Research Biologist themselves, their assistance, and in some cases other biologists that want to
check the validity of the gathered data. This genre is important, for Research Biologists
especially, because some research cannot be done in a laboratory setting. Being able to
document data and research done in a non-academic setting is necessary for communicating the
results of that research to the scientific community.
The sixth genre that I investigated was informative pamphlets. Informative pamphlets
are short, concise brochures that you may find at a national park or federally protected land.
These pamphlets are designed to provide understandable information about the local region to

Genre Analysis Essay

the general population. They are written formally, yet very simplistic in their language to allow
readers with non-scientific backgrounds to fully grasp the details. Research Biologists do not
often write informative pamphlets, but they are still a genre that they may have to address at
some point in their career. This genre is important because it can effectively communicate the
value of these national parks and federally protected lands and can increase tourism.
The final genre I explored was lab reports. Lab reports are detailed explanations of the
step-by-step procedures that Research Biologists take to gather their data. Lab reports are done
periodically while collecting data during scientific studies in order to have a presentable
collection of data to be analyzed by their peers. Lab reports may contain qualitative or
quantitative observations, changes in hypothesis, or results in failed or successful experiments.
The language used in lab reports is incredibly complex and the intended audience is other
Research Biologists. Lab reports are important because, in order to verify data provided by
researchers during the peer review process, a collection of data must be appropriately gathered
and presented. Lab reports also help Research Biologists determine why certain experiments fail
and how to address and change that outcome in the future.
For my peer-reviewed journal article analysis, I chose Genetic Modification of Lignin
Biosynthesis for Improved Biofuel Production published in In Vitro Cellular & Developmental
Biology. Plant. This article begins with an abstract giving a detailed summary of the difficulty in
producing biofuel, what makes the process difficult, and what the author believes could be a
solution to the problem. Directly under the abstract is a list of keywords from the abstract that
give an overall sense of what the article is going to be about. The body of the article discusses,
at length, the intricacies of breaking down cellulose into biofuel. The authors describe the
presence of lignin as being one of the major hurdles to producing this fuel. They then continue

Genre Analysis Essay

the article by discussing how we can begin genetically modifying biofuel crops to severely
handicap their lignin producing genes. They explain how this would make the cellulose
degradation process much less arduous and more efficient. The authors conclude the article by
summarizing their findings and claiming that genetically modifying biofuel producing crops to
produce less lignin is the most cost efficient ways of reducing the biofuel production costs. The
language used in this article is incredibly complex, and I found myself having to search for the
definitions of words every other sentence. Without being specialized in this specific field of
study, it is very difficult to read and fully comprehend what is being discussed.
After thoroughly analyzing the peer-reviewed journal article I chose, I have learned a lot
about the way the experts in my discourse community communicate. Even in published articles
that are specifically written for peers of the author, an easily understandable summary of what
the article is about is provided at the beginning. Directly after the abstract the author delves into
incredibly complex language and procedure that only someone who studies the subject matter
could be privy to. It is paramount in the scientific community to learn the correct terminology
and procedures to be able to effectively communicate with other experts in your field. Knowing
this will be invaluable going forward, as it will assist me in appearing as less of a novice when
doing my undergraduate and graduate research.

Genre Analysis Essay

References
Hisano, H., Nandakumar, R., & Wang, Z. (2009). Genetic Modification of Lignin
Biosynthesis for Improved Biofuel Production. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology.
Plant, 45(3), 306-313. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable /
20541034

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